Thursday, December 7, 2017

How many times have you discovered that your average teacher just uses a spreadsheet to keep data organized because of the boxes provided? Too often the features in spreadsheets are greatly underutilized because they can be very intimidating with formulas, functions, charts, etc. With the latest updates to Google Sheets you will find it's getting much easier to uncover insights and trends with the data you enter in the worksheets.

Specifically, the Explore feature helps users uncover the data they need to make better decisions. In the Explore panel you can ask questions in natural language referencing the data in the columns and rows in your spreadsheet and it will return suggestions. Those suggestions may vary from charts to pivot tables. It also generates the formulas for you.

Monday, December 4, 2017

The Hour of Code is an initiative to reach millions of students across the world by engaging them in at least one hour of code during the week of Dec. 4-10. There are dozens of ways you could have your students involved. Here is a list of ideas to consider.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Closed captioning is often overlooked by the average YouTube user but it can certainly help make content accessible to more viewers. It can also be handy for emerging readers. Did you know that when you upload a video to YouTube captions are created automatically in several languages including English? You can also transcribe and auto-sync, or simply edit or create new subtitles and closed captioning.

Follow these steps to get started.

Go to the Video Manager by clicking your account in the top right corner of the window. >Creator Studio>Video Manager>Videos

Monday, October 30, 2017

Google has a nice set of tools for educators to use with their students. One such tool is Google Drawings, which is often overlooked. Though this tool is very simple, if used appropriately it can be a powerful tool to keep students learning. Here are a few ideas for your next lesson. In this example, we will explore a lesson on weathering and erosion. In this scenario, students have been keeping notes the last few days in Google Keep. Here is the assignment.

Using your notes from Google Keep, create a presentation in Google Drawings about weathering and erosion. The presentation must include the following items:

definition of weathering

definition of erosion

examples of 3 types of erosion

3 pictures

3 explanations

3 comments from a partner with suggestions or questions

In this assignment, students can import their notes from Google Keep by going to the Tools >Keep notepad. They can also go to Tools>Explore to find other websites or image resources.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Looking for an online tool with ready-made quizzes tied to Texas TEKS? Quizalize might just be the solution. Discover quizzes from STAAR tests, tied to TEKS standards in a fun game mode to keep the students interested. You can learn more here from their post.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Are you tired of the same old tools for using in your classroom? There are many great tools available to you and I certainly recommend finding 3 or 4 you regularly use with your students. However, when you feel your students are losing interest, be sure to check out one of these great tools.

This tool has become very popular in education this school year. It makes it easy for you and your students to post videos on various topics and then discuss them. This might be a great way to introduce a lesson and increase dialogue in your classroom.

This is a brand new tool that allows you as the teacher to give quick feedback on student writing in Google Docs. Just install the Chrome extension and open a Google Doc to test it out. When you highlight a word or phrase in a document it gives you quick comment options such as capitalization, tense, or subject/verb agreement.

Many of you have started using Pear Deck but have you checked out Pear Deck Vocabulary? Students work together to create dynamic and engaging flashcards with sentences and illustrations that help increase learning and retention.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Making the switch to the new Google Calendar shouldn't be too much of a challenge but here are some of the changes that have been made that may help you in the transition.

Revised Sidebar

Now you can enable/disable the sidebar on and off by selecting the Main menu icon in the top left corner.

The feature to add a coworker's calendar has been moved up from the Other calendar's section to just above My calendars.

Create a Calendar

Previously you clicked the arrow beside My calendars to create a new calendar. Now you click the + sign and then New calendar.

Calendar Settings

The calendar settings have been reorganized. The old version had more items to select. The new calendar only has 3 items. All the settings you could find in the old version are available in the new calendar but may be displayed a bit differently.

Creating Events

The old calendar had a square button in the top left corner while the new calendar has a round button in the bottom right corner to create a new event.

Most of the items available in the old version reappear in the new version when you create an event. However you will notice icons are used more than text and drop-down menus are used more. The description box has been improved including rich-text formatting. Also if you hover over Guests you can see more detail about them.

Calendar Views

There are now new calendar views including Year and the ability to toggle weekends and declined events on/off.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Google just updated Google Calendar with some nice new features. All Taylor ISD employees can now switch if you are ready to do so. This video will help you make the move. We will turn off the old version on November 1 so make plans now.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Many teachers like Brainpop but often think it's just for animated videos. I challenge you to take a few minute and discover all the other features is has to offer. Here are some of the other things you can do with Brainpop and Brainpop, Jr.

Friday, September 15, 2017

How do you truly know students understand what you are teaching? Do they really grasp the concepts? Formative assessments are designed to give students specific feedback that will help them grow in understanding and guide them to mastery. Let's get explicit and intentional with our instruction.

One great tool to help you with formative assessment is Peardeck. It is an online interactive presentation tool that features a variety of question types to get instant feedback from your students. It can be used for live presentations, center rotations or homework.

You can create decks from scratch or import content from Powerpoint, Google Slides, or pdfs. It's all saved in your Google Drive with unlimited space.

The wide variety of technology tools that are flooding the market for classroom use can be overwhelming. There seems to be fewer excuses not to make teaching materials, better yet, learning materials digital. However, it's not just about going paperless or making all our materials digital. That doesn't necessarily change much in the classroom for a student. Teachers must examine how to take advantage of this opportunity and make a transformation in their teaching strategies.

As classrooms become more digital there can be a tendency to teach the same way as always. Teacher must embrace how making things digital provides them a great opportunity to increase collaboration and interactivity. Technology must be leveraged to unleash a student's skills and show their mastery and not merely used to create digital worksheets.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Where did the summer go? If you are like me, summer flew by way too soon as it always seems to do. As you begin your new school year I hope these resources will be useful to you. Look for new posts about every other week if not sooner. Have an awesome start of school

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Often times when I visit with teachers I find that most use spreadsheets to organize data and sometimes create charts. Using these 5 tips will make the experience even better the next time you are dealing with data. This video will show you the following:

how to alternate the color of rows automatically

how to rotate text such as vertically (pretty new feature)

copy and paste the format of one cell into another

setup a notification each time someone changes data in the spreadsheet

Friday, April 28, 2017

Many of you have used Padlet in the past. It can be a great tool to brainstorm with your class or have students showcase their work. All your students have to do is double-click on the webpage and then add a title, text, picture, audio, video, file or link. It's that simple.

If you haven't used Padlet, be sure to visit the site to learn more. There have been some great new updates in the last few weeks that I want to share.

Focus Mode- When a large group of people are working on a padlet together it use to be confusing with information popping up left and right. Now you just refresh the page to see the changes.

Inline Viewing- A few weeks ago they added the ability to listen to audio and video in the context of the padlet. It no longer redirects you to the source. This is a great way to show Youtube videos without the clutter or distractions.

What do you think? Do you still use Padlet or are the kids tired of using it in your classroom?

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

A few weeks ago I shared about the new Google Team Drives in this post. You may be wondering how your team can transition from a shared folder setup to these new Team Drives. There are a couple of methods I've tried but I think this one seems to be the best.

Download the shared folder to your computer.

This will create a zip file that you can typically open by double-clicking it.

Navigate to your Team Drive and click New.

Click Folder Upload.

Upload the folder. (Caution: If you have files that are in Word, Excel, or Powerpoint format that you want to remain in the format be sure to turn off the feature in Setting to convert them when uploading. Google Drawings and Forms will not transfer in this process in the correct format so you need to copy them individually.)

Once all the files are in the Team Drive and your team agrees, you may want to delete the old copies in your shared folder so you don't get confused between the two.

Here is a video that will help with the process.

Once you transition to the Team Drives remember these things.

All files are shared and owned by the team.

The original person that setup the Team Drive may consider not giving the Full rights to the folder but Edit rights only.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

As the school year wraps up soon you may need to archive or transfer your files as you move to another district. Here are the steps.

Archiving Files (Takeout)

Select your account icon and click My Account.

Click Control your content.

Click Create Archive.

Select the data to include.

Select the Delivery Method and click Create archive.

You can then upload the data into another account as needed. Another method would be to transfer your information to another Gmail account. Here are the steps you should take after the first 2 steps listed above.

Transferring Files

Click Start Transfer

Type the email address for which the data will be transferred.

Click Send Code.

Check the receiving email and enter the code.

Select the content to copy and transfer and then click Start Transfer. (Caution! This is not recommended until the very last day of employment.)

Monday, April 10, 2017

You may have noticed lately that when you login to Google it has a message about a New look for sign-in coming soon.

Please do not be alarmed. This change is happening for a cleaner, simpler look, make the sign-in faster, and to be consistent across devices. The new login should look like this. You will see it appear over the next few weeks.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Google released Google Team Drives to the wild this week. I've been beta testing it for a few weeks now and thought I would put together this video to share with others. Team Drives are shared spaces to collaborate with your team on various files. Anyone can create a Team Drive if made available by a district Google administrator.You may be wondering how is this different than simply sharing a folder and giving various rights. This video will hopefully clarify any misunderstandings. Essentially Team Drives are owned by the group and not necessarily an individual. Therefore as people come and go the files remain in place.This video will hopefully provide you a good introduction to Team Drives.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Anyone else been irritated that Google Sheets hasn't had the ability to rotate text in a spreadsheet? Those of us that used this feature in Excel for years can rejoice. Google Sheets finally has that option. Highlight the cells that contain the text you want rotated and look for the tilted A icon on the toolbar.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Some people just love the satisfaction they get by checking things off their list. Well, it just got better. Have you ever used Google Keep? G Suite for Education also includes a nifty tool called Google Keep for recording notes and reminders. It is available on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. This video is an overview of what it has to offer including a brand new feature to copy notes from Google Keep to Google Docs.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Google recently announced the ability to import videos directly into Google Slides without uploading them to Youtube. This brings about some great advantages I will share below. Here are the procedures.

In Google Slides, click Insert>Video.

Click Google Drive as the location for which you want to insert a video.

Select the video you want to insert.

Right click (or two finger click on Mac) and select Video Options.

Enter the start and stop times of the video segment you want to play. (No more editing or fast forwarding required!!!

Monday, January 2, 2017

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends and are ready for the new year. Many start the year with a new year's resolution. Over the last few years I have selected ONE word that describes what I hope to do for the year. Throughout the year that one word develops into something more and more meaningful to my life. This idea stems from Jon Gordon's book called One Word That Will Change Your Life. The idea is to come up with one word as your vision or theme for the entire year.

This is a little table I made last week.

My word this year is MAKE. I hope to make something every single week of the year to gain skills, have fun, and experience meaningful times with others. Of course most of mine will involve technology but I love woodworking as well. You can follow my progress on my personal Twitter account if you like. @haleedtech

Why not join in and share what you make online using the hashtag #Make52. This can be used on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.